From the Freezer and into the Fire
by Unimportus
Summary: 2 Valhallans get ambushed on patrol and end up seeking refuge inside of a xeno ship.
1. Chapter 1 - Pest control

**A/N- This is my first fan fiction that I've written. so please excuse the garbage quality or if it sometimes doesnt make sense. If you have any suggestions or improvements then I ai definently read them.**

Danil woke began regaining consciousness. The last thing he rememebers is...is seeing an ork weirdboy chanting something at him and then darkness.

He looked around and saw the familiar snowy blizzard and ice shelves of Valhalla, but the problem was that he didn't know where he was. His squad was on a routine patrol to check hotspots if any ork fungus was left unchecked and to burn them.

2 hours before

About 4 kloms out from their cave fortress he began noticing increasing amounts of ork fungus everywhere. The snowy plains began becoming more uneven until they entered a labyrinth of ice walls. He was told to go through it and explore caves for fungus. "Something isnt right" he muttered. "Dont worry Lietanant we get this all the time, it just means someone got lazy on the previous patrol." replied the soldier from behind, hearing Danils complaint. The man was holding a flamer, burning promethium dripped from its tip, it was obvious he had lots of experience with it due to him having a flamer tan. "We will just have to see who it was and dispense the necessary justice" he finished.

But it still didnt seems right. There was way too much fungus. Leaving it unchecked for a few days wouldnt result in this much growing out. "When can we go back, I can feel my fuel freezing!" echoed from the back of the cave, "The only thing were freezing here are our balls you and promethium cant even freeze you dumbass exterminator" replied the sergeant. Exterminator was a slang term used by Valhallans for those who carried flamers.

When his squad was leaving the cave that was when it hit him. Not in the sense that he realized what was going on but some kind of force launched him into a nearby wall of ice. He felt his vox pack snack and crack. The techpriest will kill him if this ambush doesnt. When he looked up he saw his exterminator...or whats left of him, scattered across the snow and ice walls. Burning limbs and tattered clothes flew in the air. His fuel tank was most likely ruptured by a grenade. It couldnt have been a precise shot, seeing how the only known hostiles on Valhalla are orks. After a few moments the rest of his squad was turning into red mist one by one. That could have only meant one thing, hes up against a ork psyker.

This was bad, really bad. Danil tried reaching for his las pistol but ended up fumbling around with the holster. When he looked up again he saw the sergeant reaching out to him. He pulled the lieutenant up onto his feet. Danil began looking around for whose left and where this ork was. His men were still being eviscerated by a damned ork. "Find cover and dont expose yourself" Danil ordered, the men were already panicking so giving a order didnt help much. He grabbed the sergeants coat and pulled on it lightly, telling him to fall back into the cave. before going it he grabbed a lasgun dropped by one of his men, "better to have this and a laspistol" he thought to himself.

Danil hoped the cave would have another exit or something of that sort. But the tunnel had a dead end where the fungus once was. "The heat must melted the ice anand caused a cave in, were trapped" said the sergeant, his voice slightly quaking. Slowly Danil could hear footsteps approaching them. This was the end. As soon as the ork weirdboy turned the last corner he saw the two Valhallans pointing their lsshuns at him. "Dem lazer poitaz wont do ya good humie" he bellowed. He began chanting, Danil knew this was it, but like hell he wont go down wont go down without a fight. "Full charge, empty your power pack!" Danil shouted in desperation.

It didnt matter. Every shot they fired bounced off the ork, must have been a psychic barrier of sorts. First the sergeants powerpack beeped, signaling it was empty, then the lieutenants. After that the ork finally swung his staff. It was as if he threw purple hellfire at them. Danil put his hand on the sergeants shoulder "at least we wont die with our balls frozen" trying to cheer up his comrade. But he didnt feel the extreme heat, just darkness, a cold cold darkness.

Danil woke up, looking around he realised he wasnt in the cave anymore but instead back in the plains. With a second look around he noticed the sergeant was with him too. He made a mental note to find out what his name was after he regains consciousness as well. For now he needs to find somewhere to stay from the cold, the sun was setting fast.

After carrying the dead weight for almost half an hour he noticed a crevace up ahead. If he reached it there could be some form of shelter under there. But when he got closer he found a snoldering wreck of ship, not a big one. About the size of some large troop carrier. A large boarding vessel perhaps? No too angular...too angular?

Danil began sweating, the Imperium doesnt have angular ships. Everything the Imperium builds is boxy and robust. He began fearing the worst. A different xeno, other than orks, landed on Valhalla.


	2. Chapter 2 - Crash Site

**A/N - I had to make up a bit of lore becuase I couldnt find much info about, its nothing major but just wanted to point it**

Shepard was being flooded with too much information every time he opened a new window on his terminal. He was browsing the extranet for a few hours to see what happened in the 2 years that he was gone. His team broke apart after his sudden death. Garrus was missing and god know where he was, Tali returned to the Flotilla and continued her work on Geth research, Kaidan returned to serve in the Systems Alliance and Liara became a information broker on Illium. Seems like everyone was around here and there and he was questioning if they would even join back. Being forced to work for Cerberus and all.

He tilted his head and started talking to the ceiling "EDI, which planet did the original Normandy crash on?". A blue avatar popped out of the terminal near the door "The remains of the SSV Normandy crashed on Alcherra in the Amada system" said a female voice in monotone. "Tell Joker to set a course for there then" Shepard commanded "seems some of my previous crew is reported as missing" he had a habit of collecting tags of those who served with him or on his ship, no matter how inconsequential their role was. "Understood commander, relaying your order to Flight Lieutenant Moreau" as soon EDI finished her sentence, her avatar shrunk back into the hologram. "Might take a few hours to get there, better sleep on what learned so far" Shepard said to himself.

Danil was teriffied of going near the Emperor damned ship, but he was far more terrified of walking for longer in these icy plains and not finding another shelter. He began judging the wreckage. Some chunks of it were half frozen or completely encased in ice, it was here for a long time already. Weighing his odds out Danil decides to go down into the crater and wait out the blizzard. The sergeant he was dragging was still unconscious. He felt heavier by the minute.

The journey down the Crater was surprisingly easy. His boots were specially made for snowy and icy terrain so the soles had spikes to get a better grip when going down hills and the like. Although the extra weight didnt help. When he reached the bottom he got a better look at the interiors of the ship pieces of hull and cargo were scattered everywhere. He decided to go inside what he could only describe as long hallway, it made him feel uneasy. The cave fortresses of Valhalla have been said to be designed similarly to Imperial navy space vessels. Hallways with multiple bulkheads and doors that shut vertically instead of horizontally, this was done in order if theres a sudden loss of power the mag locks on doors would stop working forcing a automatic lockdown of the ship. But this hallway was far too long and the only doors he saw were horizontal. This further confirmed his fears that this was in fact a xeno ship.

After laying his comrade down against a wall he sat next to him and fished out a blanket from the sergeants pack. He dug around and was glad to find a heat lamp too. Every Valhallan who goes on patrol is told to take a heat lamp but most tended not to take them on simple patrols, because those only took a few hours and not a few days. Placing it in front of them Danil turned it on. The small box stood on its foldable legs and slowly began warming up its coils. The reflective layer behind it began being put to use as he felt the warmth on his exposed face. He finally felt comfortable for the first time in a while. Seeing how he is safe right now its a good time to examine the condition of he lasgun he took from his dead squadmate. The main body only had minor scratches and the barrel was freshly changed, very lucky he picked this exact one. But thats where Danils luck run dry. He only had 2 powerpacks that were on half charge and 4 packs for the laspistol. This wouldnt last even for a small fire fight. He sighed in realizing how bad this all is.

After changing out his powerpack he gets out from under the blanket warmth and decides to stand guard until the sergeant wakes up. Hes not going anyhwere dragging that pile bricks around. And also in case some snow cat decided it wants to munch on human flesh.

The sudden jolt woke Shepard up from his sleep, he reached out for the clock on his bedside stand. 4 hours passed. 4 sweet hours of sleep and clear thoughts, but now its over. Putting on his suit and armor he tells EDI that hes going to go alone to the planet surface, no one else. Slowly walking to the elevator he gets a private transmission from Miranda "Commander I urge you to take at least me or Jacob with you down to Alcherra, we dont know whats down there or if its-" Shepards cuts her mid word and answers with a annoyed tone "The reason I said I go by myself is because I need to face this mess myself. No one comes with me except for the pilot of the Kodiak" He ended the transmission and shut off his communicator. He knew Miranda would continue pesterimg him about so he wanted to hurry to the drop shuttle.

The ride down was just like any other but Shepard dreaded the sight that was infront of him the shuttle doors slid open. His ship was scattered, ruined, cut apart and layed to waste on some backwater snow ball. After checking most of the wreckage Shepard decides to check the bridge. While walking along the hall of terminals and nav computers he notices that the floor has fresh markings. Foot prints.

Insticts began kicking in from years of combat and covert ops as he took out his Mattock. A new Cerberus rifle design, a hard hitter and proper improvement over the Avenger. Slowly advancing around the corner he sees a single man in arhaic winter clothing. A blue coat which appeared to be lined with fur and one of those old fur hats he always saw europeans wear. Shepard walked up closer and took off his helmet. He kicked his foot and shouted "Identify yourself! What are you doing here?" . No response

Danil jolted from his sleep and damned himself for dozing off while being on watch. After feeling his dried up and cracking lips he grabbed a handful of snow and began chewing it to just numb the feeling of dehydration. Just as a precaution he looked around to see if anything changed, nothing. Thats when he heard as what he could describe as a valkyries in the distance approaching down for a drop. But what he saw wasnt a valkyrie. Instead it was another damn smooth edged space craft. "Oh for the thrones sake, cant you leave this alone?" Danil snapped.

Trying to get to into some cover to hide from the approaching object. He saw as the small ship swooped down and landed. It was obviously a transport but smaller than a valkyrie, might hold 10 men if you squeezed in. The doors on the craft hissed and slid to the side, not Imperial standard he mumbled under his breath. But what stepped out was definitely some kind of humanoid. But the armor didnt look right. Too thin and small, he doubted if it could even stop shrapnel from a basilisk shell. But the armor made him remember the stories from veterans who returned from the Imperiums fringe worlds. Some new xeno race that called themselves Tau. The designs all matched up. He also remembered how Imperial citizens defected to the Tau. But this didnt make sense, what were Tau doing om Valhalla?

Danil looked up and realised in horror. There were 2 suns in orbit. Valhalla has one sun and one moon that is visible at all times. Which could only mean the ork psyker somehow sent himself and the sergeant thru the warp and into a Tau world. "This must be my lucky day!" he said in disbelief. He glanced again at the figure, he was walking around and examining the wreck. A scavenger maybe? Or perhaps recovering a long lost vessel? Didnt matter, what did matter is getting off this world. And the only ticket was the shuttle. While examining the small vessel he hear shouting. When he looked around for the humanoid he could see him. He heard shoutimg again. This time he realised it came from the direction of where he left the sergeant.

Slowly making his way down the sliced hallway he saw the humanoid pointing what looked like a sidearm of sorts at the sergeant. Now Danil can confirm it was indeed a human, he took off his helmet. "Drop the damned pistol xeno collaborator!" He sneered. The human turned around and now both were in a standoff. Both pointing their guns at each other.


	3. Chapter 3 - KO

**A/N-Excuse the lack of updates, Life got busy for a few days and I didnt quite have the motivation to write anything.**

"I said it drop it!" Danil repeated, this human didnt look like he was part of the Tau, he didnt see any of their trademark descriptions. No large shoulder plate, no insignias the helmet was small and wasnt elongated on the back. Was he wrong? Was this not a Tau collaborator?

Shepard couldnt understand a word the man was saying. It sounded like a mix of Slavic and Scandinavian, his translator chip either wasnt working or he found a new dialect in a galaxy thats fully mapped. No thats impossible. But pointing a gun at his friend was most likely a bad idea, he thought to himself. Lowering his weapn might help diffuse the situation.

Slowly holstering his carnifex he keeps one arm up showing he means no harm. The man was dressed similarly to his friend, but small insignias and what he could only think were rank tabs made it obvious that this is a officer. "So youre military huh? Alliance or what?"

Danil couldnt understand a word the man was saying but it did sound familiar. He remembered how they had a Harakoni Warhawk regiment stationed in a nearby fortress. Something about resting up, but the words this man spoke seemed to be very similar in nature to the native language of those warhawks...Harkat was it? It still didnt make any sense nothing added up. Tau looking vessels, a posibble Harakoni warhawk. But if ge spoke Harkat that means he can speak Gothic.

"Who are? Imperial or traitor?" he hissed the last word out. The man didnt react and seemed even more confused. By the throne how can a human not know Gothic. Thats physically impossible.

Shepard was shocked when the man started speaking a new language altogether, some kind of variant of latin. It sounded like latin but some parts were different. Just who was this guy? His weapon didnt seem right. Too big and bulky and it weirdest of all it looked fully solid.As if its permenantly in that position. Most firearms, even pistols collapsed for easier storage or to allow for more weapons to be worn. But this one just seemed out of place.

The man finally decided to lower his weapon too, probably realizing Shepard wasnt too much of a threat. Slowly reaching to his neck to activate a comm link with the ship he says "EDI do you have any idea who these guys are? My translator chip doesnt seem to be working" with a hasty reply EDI somehow sounded confused in her monotone voice "Commander, these men bare no resemblance to any Military, mercenary or pirate organization. Your translator chip is working fine however, it seems they are speaking a completely new language. Try to keep him talking. I will be working on a new translation algorithm". Oh great I've got to engage in small talk with a giant I cant even understand

Danil was confused, this man knew he cant understand. So why was he still trying to talk. "Shut your mouth, I have no damned idea what your saying. Where in the warp are am I?" barking it out probabaly didnt help however, he needed to speed things up. Resolving conflicts quickly tended to be better then prolonging them unnecessarily. Every or campaign taught him that. He decided to take a closer look at the man. He was bald, military bald. His build was mostly concealed by his suit, it appeared skin tight so he could get the gist of his mass. Now his weapons were plain weird. When he holstered away his pistol it just collapsed on itself, definitely xenotech. The ma. appeared to be a head and a half shorter than Danil. But that was expected, Valhallans were tall genetically, so it wasnt of the ordinary.

Then it suddenly went dark, he saw light again for a moment and realised he was on the floor. "Damn, forgt to look behind me" he cursed himself.

"Miranda stand down! Are you mad throwing people around in a place like this? What if he got impaled on a piece of debris?" Shepard knew Miranda wouldnt let him leave the Normandy alone. But he didnt expect her to sneak on the Kodiak so quickly. "And what? Risk a large investment such as yourself getting damaged this early on by two savages?" she spoke with a certain hint of superiority, knowing that she was bred, augmented and trained to be so. He despised that part about her.

"I think its best if we take them in on the ship, one was unconscious but I guess its two now thanks to you" he snapped at Miranda. "Might also need a check up of some sorts" he paused "I dont think they have translator chips". Miranda tilted her head as if she misheard what Shepard just told her. "Thats impossible, virtually every race out there is implanted with one at birth. You sure they didnt have one?"

"I am, I know this might seem even weirder but I couldnt understand a single word he was saying. It did sound familiar but none of it made sense"

After discussing what had happened with Miranda he finally called in to the pilot of the Kodiak that they are bringing in 'extra luggage' with them. Without questioning what the luggage was the pilot simply replied with "Affirmative". Right before picking up the man which Miranda knocked out with her biotic throw Shepard looked under his jacket to find a identification on his suit if hes from some secret organization. But there was none, and there was no bodysuit. Just a thick sweater and random miscellaneous items a soldier would have carried. Were that poor or what? he thought to himself. "Well theire weapons do look ancient, might as well see if it would have pierced my shield".

"Miranda, I wanna see what their weapons are like. Ive never seen anything as weird as these" The XO immediately turned to see what he was talking about. The weapon did seem out of place. A completely solid build and a lot of sharp edges, nothing like what modern firearms have. You sure thats a good idea? What if its bio coded? You know, so only one person could use it". A valid presumption, but that would have made sense if these didnt look so broke. Ignoring her opinion he continued. "And firing" Shepard whispered, gently pulling on the trigger.

A sharp crackling sound echoed through the hull of the crashed Normandy. Shepard was aiming at a wall near the left staircase down to the engineering deck. He smelt ozone for some reason, but sense was dulled by the fact that he just fired a laser based weapon. The wal he shot had a small cavity but no hole. Shepard looked bacl at Miranda and saw she was just as shocked. "We both saw the same thing, right?".

Shepard examined the weapon again, looking a safety of sorts. He noticed a archaic fire selector, with markings going down in order of 0, 1 and being on the bottom. Putting it on zero he was now teriffied that if that man shot him, he would have had half his face cooked like a well done steak. "Tell none of the crew, not even the Illusive man what we found here, got it?" he said to Miranda, pointing a warning finger at her. She simply nodded guessing it will be hard to explain what she found.

Shepard and the XO dragged off the two strangers to the Kodiak. 'Something amazing must have happen in those two years I was dead' Shepard mumbled as he entered the Kodiak.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Medicae Chakwas

**A/N-I absolutely hate my staff sergeant**

Jacob was sweating bullets. Right in front of him he was shown the impossible. Its a well known fact that laser based weaponry is a science fiction myth. The galaxy would need another couple of decades if not centuries to develop reliable and effective laser weapons. But all of that was thrown outside the airlock 3 minutes ago when the commander brought him a fully functioning laser rifle out of nowhere. Nothing made sense.

How was he supposed to begin? He was told that Shepard found this and 2 more supposed laser weapons down on Alchera from two 'weirdos' as they were called. They werent wrong, they were weirdos through and through. None of their clothing had personal heating elements. It was just a thick coat of furs and other heat insulating elements. Their armor was even more interesting. Multiple plates with similiar consistency to ceramics but fused with a unknown alloy. While digging through one of the backpacks Jacob found a sword, not a ceremonial one. This one showed obvious use in combat. What kind of madman uses a sword in the 22nd century?

But the strangest part was the complete lack of Mass Effect technology. No Omnitools, No collapsing weapons and no translator chips. Everything that the average person had, they were missing. And by every second he even questioned if such a thing could exist. But here they were one deck below him, defying all logic and reasoning.

Shepard stood near Doctor Chakwas as she was taking the clothes off from the unconscious men. Shepard was able to discern both of them. The one who he found unconscious was rather young, maybe early twenties and about six feet tall. He had light brown in a crew cut. But when shepard found him his head was sagging down so he couldnt quite make his face out. But now he wished he would never have seen it. Now most prosthetics made for humans nowadays can barely be discerned from the real thing, even missing eyes can be accurately replaced. But this, this wasnt that. What this man had wasnt a prosthetic, it was an abomination. A small cylinder about one inch wide was sticking out of where his eye socket was supposed to be. It was covered in scratches and grime. How he could see through that green lens is beyond anyone. When they took off his shirt it made the commander question what kind of soldier this guy was in.

His entire back was covered in scars and burn marks. Chakwas was also shocked by everything she was seeing. These men must have been through some sort of hell to get this kind of damage done to their bodies. The doctor then moved the floating gurney to the MRI scanner. They had to check if all the internals were fine. After a few minutes Chakwas sighed "Luckily their internals seem fine only oddity is the lack.of translator chip that you Mentioned. But now I can see that his augmented eye is pretty deep in there and has multiple wires connecting it the brain. A very crude method, quite barbaric" a small drop of discomfort could be felt in her words. This was by far not the norm.

She moved on to the next man. Shepard could finally see how tall this guy was, maybe 6"7 or even an inch taller. He also looked not that old, perhaps late twenties or early thirties. This one though had a completely bald head. When the doctor removed the mans left glove she gasped. Prosthetics are always covered up by artificial skin, its rather taboo to show off naked prosthetics. But this showed Chakwas something else. Normally humans have prosthetics made by Seraphtech or other companies that copy their designs. This however was nothing like it. It was crude, she immediately remembered some film that was almost one and half centuries old. Where a man disguised as a machine cut off his synthetic skin to show his robotic arm. It looked almost like that but the hand had more plates that moved into eachother in order to simulate a functioning palm. However she noticed there was nothing powering it. How was it running?

Deciding it would be better to aks that the man himself when he wakes up she decided to undress the man to ready him for the scan as well. The clothes and boots on this one seemed to be of higher quality. An officer perhaps? "Shepard, where do you think these people came from?" she asked the commander while stripping the man "I really want to know too, Ive been fighting pretty much all my life but Ive never seen anyone with such injuries, what kind of battles must you have been in to earn such scars" he asked rhetorically.

Chakwas was done stripping the second man. She could now see the all the untold stories in those numerous scars. A large straight scar, likely a cut or a stab with a large blade on the right pectoral. Prosthetic left arm from the shoulder down. A patch of uneven scars on the left side of the torso, most likley exposed skin that caught some shrapnel from an explosion. And countless other wounds that healed up somehow. "This guy should be dead with all of these wounds, how was he able to survive a throw from Miranda?" Shepard replied jokingly "Maybe the guy has the fighting spirit of ten men"

After the scan Chakwas could see that the prosthetic could be taken off and the shoulder had some kind of port for easy attacment and detachment. The port was also connected to multiple nerve endings, once again, in a very crude manner. Deciding to take the liberty in this she automatically implanted translator chips into theie necks. How did one live to be thirty and not have a translator chip?

"How long do you expect them to be unconscious?" Shepard asked from behind the Doctor. "The one with the robot arm might wake up in a few hours, his friend however might take a day or two. I cant really tell why" if Chakwas is unsure of something like that, it could be really bad, Shepard thought. "Please call me when one of them wakes up, I want to be the first one to talk to them" he paused "besides you of course" and with that he left the medbay.

Danil lazily opened his eyes. His head was splitting open. The second time he opened his eyes he saw a white ceiling. Turning his head he saw his comrade. I really need to get his name, he made himself a mental reminder. Danil tried recounting the events before it went black. He simply started flying after some jolt hit him in the back and bam. Unconscious. Then that could only mean hes in the enemies medbay. Wait, medbay? Hes still alive? Either his enemy was foolish and wanted to get information out of him it would be pointless, or he was wrong from the start and this could be some Rogue Trader vessel. The latter started making a bit more sense. But the lack of knowledge of the gothic language was still the main issue. "Medicae" but he felt how dry and soar his throat was. Nonetheless the medicae heard him and came to his bed. This time he could understand a few words. "Are you okay?" So this is a rogue trader vessel. A imperial who finally speaks gothic.

"Where am I Medicae, is this the ship of a Rogue trader?" trying to talk with a dry throat was begin to irk Danil. He will ask for water next. The medicae simply stared at him confused as if she didnt understand him "Oh by the emperor, not again" she didnt understand him but he can understand her, whys that.

"Who are you? A mercenary or what?" The white haired woman asked him. "Im no damned merc, Im First Lieutenant Danil Cherenkov of the Interior guard on Valhalla, and who are you wench?" he said sneering at the medicae.

Suddenly another femal began talking, but Danil couldnt see her "Ive analysed the speech of these two individuals and have a accurate translation algorithm now. Should I upload it to the crew?" could ot have been some kind of PA announcer?

"Please do EDI" the medicae replied starring into the ceiling. Definently and announcer of sorts. "Try talking, it should be fine now" her voice was a bit raspy, but expected judging by her age. "I will tell you again, My name is Danil Cherenkov. I am part of the Interior Guard of Valhalla. Now who are you". She recoiled back at how hostile he was, but how can he not be. Being called a mercenary was like being called a heretic in Danils eyes. He had to deal with many mercenaries who fought alongside xenos if the money was right. It was a hard a time but he was glad to be stationed back on Valhalla to teach new recruits.

"Well, I am Doctor Chakwas and I'm the Chief Medical Officer on the Normandy" she replied coldly. "I will inform the commander that your awake, he wanted to be the first to speak to you". She walked over to what looked like a very sophisticated cogitator and called someone. She turned to face Danil and asked "You sounded thirsty, do you want some water?". Water would be nice but it could be tainted with something. He cant trust these people. "Im fine" was all he could say, it was still irritable to talk.

Some time passed and the doors of the medbay slid open. The same man Danil was pointing his lasgun at was standing there. "Oh so I almost killed your commander down there" he snickered to the doctor. Chakwas turned around and laughed "Ha as if you could have even-" Shepard stopped her "Actually Doctor he isnt wrong, my barrier wouldnt have held against his laser rifle". The doctor froze in disbelief. "That cant be right, you're joking" again with more disbelief "Laser based weapons are a myth, we need at least a century to develop them". Danil was confused and decided to butt in "What are you on about? Lasguns have been widely used by the guard for since the 36th millennium". Both Shepard and Chakwas turned to face him.

"The 36th what now?"


	5. Chapter 5 - Medical drama

How can these grox brained idiots not know about lasguns. They are about as common as kitchen knives in the Imperium. Yet they say they still havent developed them? No that cant be right. "You act surprised when I said 36th Millennium, whys that?" Danil did hear stories of ships that went into the warp but arrived a few years into the past because they went through a couple 'bumps' in the warp.

Either this man was lying or he was clinically insane. "So you think its currently the 36 millennium?" Shepard said jokingly. The man replied as if he was being mocked "No, Im not a fool. Currently it is the 41st millennium, sadly I cant tell much of the Imperiums current state because most of the sector where Im from got covered in warp storms." Shepard didnt know what to think. "EDI is this guy joking or lying out of his teeth?"

Danil still didnt understand why they talked with the ceiling. "I can confirm that he is not lying, none of my indicators are showing the symptoms of lying. Apart from the increased heart rate but that is to be expected". The voice unnerved the Lieutenant. He couldnt tell where it was coming from and no speakers were in sight, what blasted tech is this?

"Okay, so lets indugle in the thought that you arent lying. You said you were in this Imperial guard, I take it its a military organization?"

"What are you on about? Its mankinds largest single army to ever exist"

"Yet I've never heard of them, if its a army then you must have a rank right?"

"Im a Second Lieutenant, currently stationed on Valhalla to assist in the creation of a new mechanized company"

"So if you are assisting in training that would imply you have some combat experience right? Your body sure as hell gave that away"

"Yes, there were a couple of incidents during the battles I participated" Lifting up his left arm and looking at the exposed pneumatics.

"Well I might as well confirm you're insane right now, because so far everything you said is made up. We have no record of your so called 'Imperial Guard' and you are carrying a laser based weapon that cant be made in today's day and age. So Im asking you again, Who are you?" This time there was a obvious sign of aggression in the mans voice.

Danil was confused once again. How can he not about the Imperial guard. Unless. He did say that Lasguns arent a thing in this 'day and age'. Could the warp sorcery of the ork psyker sent him bacl in time? Curses.

"Wait, what Millenia is right now?" Danil couldnt help but sound a bit worried at the answer he was going to receive.

"It is currently 2185. Thats the 3rd Millenium for you. See why Im calling you insane now?"

Danil froze. That cant be right. How can he be back in time. Time goes forward, always forward. "So what youre saying is that Im in the time of Infancy of mankind? Dear Emperor no" He mumbled the last bit out.

"Im waiting for my answer Danil" Shepard insisted. He had to know where this madman came from and how he had the things on him.

"I already told you, I am Danil Cherenkov. Second Lieutenant of the newly formed 387th Valhallan Mechanized company, Im just as confused as you are about this. If not more"

This was going no where. He clearly believes what he says like its the cold hard truth, but it just cant be. If he was then he unknowingly travelled back in time, thirty three thousand years no less. And that cant possibly be right. However even he himself wasnt aware travelling back in time. It should be a good idea to ask if he knows how he did travel back.

"Even though I highly doubt you are a went back in time, I am interested in what story you'd make up"

The man still looked shaken and distraught at the last bit of news. "The last thing I remember is that my patrol was ambushed by Ork psyker-" He was interrupted by laughter from the doctor.

"Oh dear lord Shepard, do you really believe this guy? Orcs? What kind of fantasy world did he come from?" barely being able to contain her laughter. However it was brought to an end when Danil smashed his left arm on the gurney, leaving a large dent in the railings.

"Dont you ever laugh when I mention the green plague. Or I swear by the Emperors teeth I will gut you like a grot" He sneered at Chakwas. "My homeworld was besieged by those xeno bastards for generations. I lost my arm and countless friends to those bastards."

Chakwas was taken back by the ferocity of this mans hatred at something she believed to be fictional. "I think this concludes that he is obviously mad" With that EDI decided to chime in "Im sorry Doctor Chakwas but looking at the brain scans of Second Lieutenant Danil Cherenkov I cannot find any abnormalities that would suggest insanity and madness. This man is in peak mental condition".

"There is that voice again, where is it coming from, is it some sort of vox operator spying on every member of the crew?" Danil finally got the chance to ask that.

"Oh no she doesnt spy on anyone, its just our ships personal AI"

Danil shuddered, an AI? A abominable intelligence? How can this be allowed? "So youre saying that thing is not a servitor but a fully fledged intelligence?" Why must everything get worse with every question. Next thing might be that humanity is working alongside Xenos.

"Well AI's are a bit illegal but this one is a exception" EDI had a lot of failsafes and somehow felt sincere when she said she wouldnt dare harm the crew.

Danil decided to remain silent. He didnt know what to do. He couldnt keep on talking, it was too much. "Can I be given some time to myself. I want think some things over."

"If you wish, but Im only giving you 2 hours or whenever your friend wakes up" Shepard pointed at the gurney near Danil with his palm. "Thank you sir" with that Danil fell back into his bed. His mind was fryed to crisp from all the information being dumped into him. He could hardly comprehend half of it.

If it really is the third millenium then the Imperium is non existent. If he remembers his history lessons right then the Emperor did not reveal hismelf yet. Only when the some drastic event made him decide to show up and save mankind from being destroyed. But there are too many inconsistencies. History said humanity was able to colonize other worlds only in the fifth millenium. But here they were with a vessel far more advance than those of the space marines. Maybe this was a different galaxy altogether? One without...No, that would be heretical to think, let alone suggest it.

Danil was lost in thought on what he has to do. Valhalla doesnt exist. The guard doesn't exist. Everything as he knew it, doesn't exist. Him amd the sergeant were lost in an ocean and had nothing to grab on to. Except this so called Commander Shepard. He had the chance to simply kill them and that would have been that, but he didnt. It would seem either he was very naive or he needes for something else. And he hoped that something else wasnt on the Dark Eldar kind. Also, he'd hate being indebted to someone.

Pacing back and forth in the armory Shepard was discussing with Jacob what they should do with the two 'weirdos'. Shepard thought it would be okay to simply hand them over to the Alliance and call it a day, their weapons too. They will revolutionize warfare as they knew it. Kinetic barriers could cease being viable. Jacob however suggested to offer them a option to join the crew. One doesnt earn that many scars and injuries from just serving. These men knew hell, and they came back from it still breathing. Maybe more than once or twice. As well as offering them to join the crew they could better explain how some of their tech works because Jacob had no idea where to start on dismantling their laser rifle.

It didnt sound half bad. He had multiple dossiers on possible candidates for his suicide mission, but these guys fit the bill perfectly. The more people Shepard gets, the better. He was up against the collectors all by himself. No Alliance or Citadel help. He needed some time to sleep on it to decide.

Laying in his gurney, Danil could finally feel the adrenaline wearing off. He felt himself dozing off and he couldnt help it, a combat stim would have helped but there werent any nearby and he was cuffed to the bed so he couldnt move anywhere. They were all packed in one of the rucks unfortunately. He tried everything and anything, flexing most of his body to increase bloodflow, remembering embarrassing memories, even pinching himself. But nothing worked. That was until his comrade started screaming. Danil jumped in his bed from the sudden sound, the adrenaline started flowing again.

"Calm yourself sergeant!" Danil shouted. "You are still alive and well".

"But sir, how? Werent we killed by an ork psyker?"

"We might as well have been, this might be hard to take in but that warp blast somehow threw us back in time". The sergeant could simply stare, probably in shock just like Danil was"

There was also another problem that Danil just realized.

"Wait, sergeant... Whats your name? I forgot to ask before going on the patrol"


	6. Chapter 6 - Medical Drama P2

**A/N - Deeply sorry for not posting any updates for so long. I was being a lazy shit and was putting off and procrastinating. Writing a new chapter was a damn pain because I had multiple moments where I just couldnt think of what to write.**

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The sergeant started laughing at the Lieutenant, "Out of all those things, you just remembered you dont know my name? Ha, arent you incompetent" Coughing up on the last line. "That would be Sergeant Rokka Aalto, so where are we sir?".

"Well, as you can see its the medbay. But I believe were in orbit over some icecube like Valhalla" Despite loving his homeworld Danil couldnt help but use that term to describe it and other such planets. "Wait, you said we were thrown back in time. What do you mean by that?" Rokka sounded confused, as if he didnt understand the joke. "I meant what I said. That orks warp blast somehow sent us into the Immaterium and threw us into the 3rd Millennium" Rokka just stared with a blank expression. Not able to process what his superior was telling him.

Shepard lay there in bed thinking about what just happened. Taking in strangers he picked up from the wreckage of his old ship is a rather weird move. But if these guys really are from the future then they have no where to go. Giving the over to the Alliance is the only way Shepard could see. However then the Alliance would research their laser weaponry and knowing how the Alliance is, there will be leaks. Said laser weaponry will fall into the hands of mercs and that will cause a massive shift in power in the universe, everyone will race to get themselves their own so called 'lasgun'. But then his train of thought was interrupted by a alarm from his terminal. It was Chakwas. The other weirdo woke up. He started making his way to the elevator after splashing some water on his face. Hopefully this was enough to make himself wake up a little.

Danil was thinking about his father, Colonel Cherenkov. He was in charge of a Tank regiment. The 114th Valhallan Armoured Regiment, a relatively young unit. Around a century old by terran standards. The 114th specialised in breakthrough tactics and maneuvers. If there was a fort or frontline in need of breaching, they were called in. Danil was in the command squad, his Leman Russ Vanquisher was always next to his fathers Executioner. His father kept him close in order to show him how commanding a armored regiment was like. In return he expected his son to command one too, if not then some kind of company. With that, Danil was taught by an experienced Colonel how to lead men in to battle. Through battling Orks, heretics and even having a run in with Eldar. Unfortunately he will never see his 884th Mechanized company in battle. Taken away too early from them without any notice and getting stuck in the past somehow.

But nows not the time about remembering the past, or the future in this case. He had to think on how to convince Shepard to let him join his crew to repay his debt and as a thanks for saving him. Maybe he'd even stay if he liked it.

The doors of the medbay opened up or rather sideways. That bothered Danil greatly, maybe he will ask about design choices later. Shepard walked in, this time with a woman. She wore and tight bodysuit like everyone else. However her face seened to be that of royalty, a noble perhaps. Rogue Traders tended to have those. Rokka immediately rose up from his gurney. Sneering lightly at the the pain at his side. "So who are they Lieutenant?"

"The most similar thing I could find is some sort of Rogue Trader or Agent of the Inquisition"

"A Emperor blasted Inquisitor? Just shoot me right now then"

"Remember when I said we are in the past? It seems the humans from the past were way softer than us. So you wont be executed"

As Shepard walked in he saw the two in their gurneys whispering to each other. "Alright, now that the second one is awake Id like to ask more about you guys. I know your Lieutenant but I know nothing about you"

The second man looked at his CO and Danil nodded back.

"I am Sergeant Rokka Aalto, 884th Valhallan Mechanized Company which is commanded by the Lieutenant over here. I was attached to it only a week ago"

Shepard was surprised, a officer as young as Danil had a unit to his name. Normally you would need to pull some strings for that. Maybe his father?

"Your Lieutenant is a commander of a company? But hes so young, is this normal where your from?"

The Lieutenant interrupted Shepard with a laugh "Oh you shouldnt compliment me like that Shepard! Im older than I look, but yes in our time its a rather stadard sight to see young officers commanding companys of men"

If thats the case then they must in some kind of war if theyre that desperate. A question for a later time then. Turning back he asked "Doctor Chakwas, how much time do these men need to be battle ready?"

Chakwas looked confused "They are fine as it is, but I'd like to keep them here for a bit longer. Just want to make sure the bruises heal up a bit"

"Perfect" He turned back to the men in their beds "Im going to offer you two some options. One is that we drop you on the next stop we go to and leave you in a world which you dont understand whatsoever with all your stuff. However our next stop is Omega which I highly doubt you want go to and seeing how your guns will stand out like sore thumbs in there Im not in the mood of giving laser weaponry to a bunch of criminals."

Danil knew it was obvious this man wasnt giving him any other options. The second one will probably be a request to join him.

Shepard continued "The other is that you join my crew and help me on my current mission. Although I cant promise you will come back alive after it."

Danil chuckled "Thats actually good timing, I was about to ask if we can stay here longer"

"So is that a yes?"

"Obviously, can we rest now? I can feel the exhaustion setting in"


	7. Chapter 7 - Job Interview

**Im really sorry for the previous chapter being so shit, I abandoned it halfway and only returned to it months later. Forgetting a lot of the ideas and flow I had with it. It was more of a sign to show that Im back from the dead.**

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Danil was laying down in his gurney, the medbay was beginning to turn darker and darker until floodlights came on. Some kind of day and night cycle on a ship? He had one for his officers quarters back in Valhalla but never did he hear about one on a ship wide scale. Shepard must truly be a rich man, maybe a noble as well. Before he left however he told them that they should arrive at theire next location in about two days time. So after this night he and the sergeant could explore this vessel and get to know its crew. Seeing how they are a part of it now.

But now sleep is all he needed. Wandering around on that ice cube and hiding in that wreckage for almost one night on minimal supplies and no food can make you a little exhausted. And he began feeling that exhaustion like a Chimera hitting him at full speed.

Shepard didnt realize it would be that easy to recruit these two so called time travelers. Although it did make sense that he showed them hospitality and care. Maybe they felt indebted? Possibly. But at the same time they must have seen this was a military ship and saw some familiarity in it. But now wasnt the time to think about that. He had to see what his objectives were on Omega, Cerberus gave him some dossiers on possible recruits for his mission to stop the collectors from abducting frind human colonies. Omega had three of those. The first was a vigiliante who was on Omega for a few months called Archangel. The second was a salarian called Mordin Solus, he setup a clinic in the area thats affected by the plague. So hes a doctor, a second one would be nice. And finally third was Zaaed Massani a ex mercenary whos only in it for the money, interesting choice.

So three new faces he never seen or heard anything about, as if Shepards trust wasnt spread thin as it is. The only people he trusted on this ship were Dr Chakwas and Joker, no one else. Perhaps it would be a good idea to see the difference in equipment between himself and Danil. But that was for tomorrow. he needed some rest as well. Being overloaded with so much information in such a short time is not good for the mind. It had to wait.

Danil woke up to a alarm of sorts, not a emergency one that violates your ears with its putrid sound but instead a soft ringing. This crew must be really soft if this is its wake up call. He decided to go a few steps ahead and start getting changed back into his uniform. The sergeant was beginning to wake up as well. "Oh, so it wasnt a dream then sir?" the dissapointment was obvious. "No, now get in uniform. We cant let our first impressions on this vessel be that of patients, but soldiers of the Emperor". The sergeant just mumbled in agreement. He decided to forgo his heavy coat seeing how they were inside a controlled environment, making his coat borderline useless. Despite its size it wasnt just for warming. It contained some additional protection on top of the flak armor everyone wore. A couple small plates of plasteel in order to stop fragmentation damaging the torso and back. Something every Valhallans needs when fighting orks in any situation. But here it served no purpose, yet.

The sergeant noticed that Danil ditched his coat and did the same. Preffering to wear his flak armor however. There was one problem though. They couldnt find any of their weapons. It did make sense why, but Danil didnt feel right without his laspistol or power sabre.

Shepard was done putting on his officer dress. The Cerberus insignia was the only thing he disliked about it. It didnt feel right to wear the mark of an organization he fought so many times before. Not to mention his disgust with their inhumane experiments.

But now he had to check up on his two new crew members. Maybe show them around their ship and take them to the mess hall for breakfast. Yeah that was the plan.

He ordered the medbay to be cleared out so only the two soldiers stay there as well as for all scalpels and other such items be stowed away and locked up. Cant take any chance like that yet. As he made his way down the medbay he unlocked the door through the terminal. Locking them in was another precaution. The doors slid open and he say them both standing in uniform near their gurneys. "Seems like I came just in time. How was your sleep?"

Danil straightened up "Surprisingly well, is your ship normally this silent? I might not be a techpriest but I still feel safer knowing that I can hear the Machine Spirit"

Shepard didnt get it, but it might have been some kind of saying from their time "Well I can put you next to the reactor core so you can hear it then"

"No, that wont be neccessary, I'd rather discuss us joining your crew and what is expected of us"

"Im sure your eager to find out more, but talking on a empty stomach isnt really my thing. The mess hall is just outside of the medbay"

Danil didnt feel at home with this ship, everything was way to rounded and smoothed out. Gone are the familiar angular and boxy designs of Imperial cruisers. This seemed almost alien to him. But it must have been like this in the start of mankinds early space exploration, he wondered how many worlds they conquered or how many aliens their fighting right now. When he walked out of the medical bay he felt as most of the eyes in the room began converging on him and the sergeant. They obviously stuck out. He guessed wearing a different uniform really makes you stand out. As he glanced at the mess hall he realized some things dont age at all. Sure it was cleaner and better looking than the ones on Valhalla but the purpose was the same. A cook standing behind and handing out what looked like ready made meals. Some kind of simple meal perhaps. He and Rokka queued up behind Shepard. Upon looking around again he noticed there were not a lot of crew around maybe seven or eight men. Maybe a shift change just happened.

"Im curious, Shepard how many crew members do you have on board?"

"We have 40 people on board at the moment, by the time I expect my team to br fully assembled I expect maybe around 50 people, why do you ask?"

The Lieutenant looked in disbelief "And whats the classification of this ship?"

"Its a super frigate, why is something wrong with that?"

"Oh its just that frigates in our time are a bit bigger than this" Shepard could feel a bit of a smug aura coming off him.

"It cant be that much of a difference, whats the size of your frigates then"

"The average length is about one point six kilometers in length and they hold around twenty to twenty five thousand crew"

Shepard had a hard time processing a ship of that magnitude being called a mere frigate, it dwarfed even the largest dreadnoughts in the alliance "Yeah and your dreadnoughts ram other ships just for fun"

"The dreadnoughts no, Cruisers and other such spacecraft might"

Now he has to be joking. Ramming ships is a barbaric tactic that almost always leaves both sides devastated, how in the hell humanity alive by using such tactics.

It was obvious this was a fresh humanity, still naive and immature about the universe. Although a better understanding of how things are in this moment would be helpful for a more accurate judgement. But these distractions were getting in the way. Grabbing the box from the cook they sat with Shepard at a table. "Now judging by your bodies and augmentics I can guess both of you have seen plenty of combat, am I right?"

"You go first sergeant" Danil waved to Rokka.

"Want to make yours sound way better like that huh?" He chuckled "I was in a few tours of duty when I was in my previous unit. The 187th Valahllan Ice warriors. Three were in ice worlds, four in hive spires and one tour in Armageddon, we mainly fought against orks. The last 5 cycles I was stationed on Valhalla as a trainer for the PDF"

Shepard thought the man was jokimg when je said orks "You mean those big green guys from old school fantasy?"

"Humanity had a ork problem this far back?" Rokka looked at his superior hoping he knew the history of the orks. "I have no idea sergeant. All I know is that they Pre date the Imperium, but not humanity itself, so its highly unlikely"

"Well thank the Emperor. So yes, Im very familiar with the battlefield"

Shepard glanced in surprise, for most Allaince soldiers merely participating in the Skyllian Blitz was enough to get them into a good military position. But this guy seemed to have went through hundreds of such Blitzes. He turned his head to Danil "And what about you Lieutenant?"

The officer put down his spoon. "I have been in service to the Emperor for over a century now. Half of that time I spent by my fathers side in his tank battallion. After he and the rest of that unit were annhilated, me and the remaining twenty men of 114th were forced to disband and replinish other regiments. After that I was bouncing from unit to unit, until I had the luxury of commanding my own Company." Shepard was astounded by the mans background "But if you were in a Tank Battalion then it would mean you don't have much experience in Infantry combat"

Danil glanced at the commander "Oh I dont think you were listening, I said I was jumping from unit to unit for quite a while. Ive been in every company and regiment type there is, mechanized, artillery, demolitions, infantry. If you can name it, Ive done it" Danil raised his finger to point at Shepard "So dont you dare you question my experience"

Shepard was a bit insulted himself but he understood it was his fault. "Well on that case we shouldnt have any issues with following a couple of orders from me in combat right?"

The Lieutenant replied "If its something Id do myself yes, if not there might be issues"

"Perfect, I believe next would be to reunite you with your armaments and maybe add some of our own tech"

This was great news for Danil, finally he will get his power sabre back.


End file.
